340 Landscape Gardening 



Scale Insects.— These are among the most destructive 

 of the sucking insects, and several species are very abundant. 

 Among those most to be feared are the Oyster-shell Scale 

 Fig. 187, and the San Jose Scale. The former {Mytelaspis 

 pomomm), is very common on ash, willows, lilacs, hawthorn, 

 etc., and on the flowering apples. In shape it resembles the 

 oyster-shell, is of a brown color, about J of an inch long by 

 ^ wide, and injures the tree by sucking the juices from the 

 growing shoots and branches. At c it is shown natural size. 

 The eggs hatch out from under the parent shell the last of 

 June or early July, and the young swarm out and soon fix 

 themselves on other branches, feeding at this point until 

 they reach full size, when they die, leaving the young or eggs 

 protected by their dead bodies. 



Remedy.— This pest may be destroyed by painting during 

 the winter with a very light coat of linseed-oil, by washing 

 with strong caustic potash, | pound to 4 quarts water, by 

 strong whale-oil soap, 2 pounds to i gallon of water, applied 

 while the trees are dormant, or by kerosene emulsion used 

 just after the young insects have left the cover of the parent 

 scale and have a very deHcate covering. Soluble oil and 

 lime-sulphur solution as used for the San Jose scale is a 

 remedy for this pest. 



The San Jose Scale {Aspidiotus perniciosus), so destruc- 

 tive to all kinds of fruit and many ornamental trees in 

 California and the South, has been largely distributed 

 about the country, having been found in every State in 

 the Union, and has proved a most destructive pest. The 

 perfect insect is circular in outline, of a gray color, vary- 

 ing from ^^ to T6 of an inch in diameter, and generally 

 with a black spot in the centre. It is so small as to escape 

 notice until it has increased to great numbers, and it prop- 

 agates very rapidly. It injures plant-growth in the same 

 way as the last by sucking the juices of the tender parts. 



